Linda Duncombe Talks ‘Killing Time,’ Freddie Prinze Jr. and Arkansas

As the old-timers say, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, but when it comes to film and television, it seems like every tree in the Arkansas woods is bursting with projects these days, including movies Turnbuckle and King Snake and streaming series The Big D. To that list, add Killing Time, a suspense feature film expected to hit theaters in early 2027.

 

Australia-born Linda Duncombe is no stranger to Arkansas, having vacationed in the state with friends, so she knew the area’s natural beauty and the welcoming spirit of the people. When time came for the banker turned independent film producer to choose a location for Killing Time, starring Freddie Prinze Jr. (She’s All That, I Know What You Did Last Summer), William Moseley (The Chronicles of Narnia series, The Royals), Sasha Pieterse (Pretty Little Liars, X-Men: First Class) and Shelley Hennig (Unfriended, Hunting Season), Duncombe leveraged the state’s tax break for filmmakers and shot the film in central Arkansas over three weeks in May and June.

 

AY About You sat down with the producer to discuss the new film, the changing dynamic in the entertainment industry after COVID-19 and her growing love for the Natural State.

 

 

AY About You: Let’s talk a little bit about your story and how you came to the entertainment industry.

 

Linda Duncombe: Well, the accent you hear is Australian. I grew up in a very happy home and was fascinated by television. As a very young girl, I used to watch Wonder Woman and Charlie’s Angels, and one day, I turned to my parents and said, ‘I’m going to live in America.’ Through banking, I was able to do that; I moved to the U.S. with Citibank and was in New York for three years and then worked with Citi National Bank in Los Angeles, and that’s where I became much more involved in the entertainment industry.

 

During COVID-19, with the [Paycheck Protection Program] loans, we established a platform using Salesforce as a partner to help our clients and people that qualified to get access to that program, which was all very well intended, but it was hard to get to. I used to say we built the modern-day Apollo 13, where you have to land that thing while figuring out how to put a round peg in a square hole. Anyway, we built this platform, and we were able to help entertainment clients through that whole process, and that’s how my name initially became well known in the industry.

 

When I left banking, I had a lot of contacts, a lot of networks and a group of businesspeople that I knew who saw enormous potential within the entertainment industry, but independent films needed to find out some new sources of money. Today, I sit on the board of the Screen Actors Guild-[American Federation of Television and Radio Artists] Foundation and the Grammys Foundation, and that’s allowed me to keep my contacts and relationships very much alive. Seeing some of the challenges and struggles that the industry was having, I was more determined than ever to see how we could establish a model that allowed us to make independent films.

 

AY: How did that lead you to Arkansas?

 

Duncombe: Arkansas was on our radar because of Josh Friedman, who’s my best friend, my business partner and the director of Killing Time. He would go [to Arkansas] all the time with his family, where they have this beautiful house on a lake. It’s just beautiful here, and the people are so friendly. It feels very culturally aligned to what I grew up in — like “please,” “excuse me,” “thank you,” hold the door open for anybody. That’s etiquette in Arkansas; I don’t know what I was expecting, but it was so much like Australia. Whenever I go to Arkansas and I’m speaking to locals, I love it because it’s the same courtesy and etiquette that I grew up on. That’s Southern charm. I love it.

 

AY: From a professional perspective, what elements did the state offer that landed Killing Time?

 

Duncombe: The 25-percent tax credit is very attractive, and the departments of state government are very supportive in helping you understand what qualifies or doesn’t qualify and going through the process of being able to submit your expenses for the tax credit.

 

There were also some local crew members who were already attached to the project, and we loved having the local crew, as well as just the beautiful landscape and using these wonderful houses and buildings for parts of our film. We got really excited about it.

 

Between that and Josh, and his family going to Arkansas regularly, when it came up on our radar, we’re like, ‘We know Arkansas, and we love it. Let’s go.’

 

AY: During COVID-19, when we were all sequestered, it proved we wanted content more than ever but in different formats and platforms. What did that period do to change the industry’s business model and reveal what was possible, things that were novel then but are now accepted as industry standard?

 

Duncombe: When we were all in COVID, we were desperate for escapism, and it came through our television sets in our households. Since then, taking your spouse and three kids to a theater and they want popcorn and soft drinks and suddenly you’re spending well over $100 can be really hard for a family when you can make the popcorn at home, buy your soda at the local shop and spend $5 on a film if you didn’t have the subscription level where they gave it to you for free. That became very attractive, and it was something we all got very, very comfortable with.

 

I do think there is still a level of comfort around that, but what we actually saw in cinematic and theatrical productions and even with music, we were also like, ‘Get us out of our house. Let me go see Bon Jovi.’ I think theatrical may have been a slower burn, but the weekend when The Odyssey and Spider-Man were out, they had a record number of people going to theaters around the world, so I think people will still come out for the right films, and they don’t have to be DC comic movies, which I love.

 

AY: Is there a generational element to these viewer preferences?

 

Duncombe: The model of what makes people go to the cinema, what we’re seeing is very different as this younger generation is coming through. A movie with the right demographic pool, like Obsession, which was not an expensive movie, made so much money because it was a younger demographic. Their choices are a little bit different. People are becoming more selective. I don’t think it’s ever going to be like before COVID, but people are going to the theaters if you know how to work out how you tap into your audience.

 

What I would also say that’s changed is the power of advertising has definitely shifted in how you promote a film or promote anything, especially younger demographics. You have to know how to speak to them on TikTok and Instagram, where they are, like, a groundswell, and then the word spreads. That is way more powerful than me buying an ad while they’re watching something streaming because that’s not from a credible source as it pertains to their lens. They’re like, ‘That’s not coming from my social network.’ So advertising has changed hugely.

 

AY: How do independent films, which seem to have gained a wider cache in recent years, fit into that competitive landscape?

 

Duncombe: One challenge for independent films is it’s very expensive to make a film. There are a lot of creatives that are in filmmaking, and I would get people pitching me ideas, and I’d go, ‘That’s fantastic,’ and as soon as I start asking them about the numbers, it’s like a house of cards. They might have a great idea, a phenomenal script, but when it comes to making the film, they haven’t thought about the cost.

 

When we made The Queen’s Jewels, we were in four different countries, four different currencies. We had millions of dollars moving around countries as we filmed this, and an exchange rate move … could be a great thing if it moves in our favor, but if it doesn’t, what’s the contingency? I was talking to our partners, going, ‘What’s our exchange exposure, and what have we done to mitigate that risk?’

 

Those things are not being thought out, and not understanding the financials is why I think a lot of independent films are struggling. That’s why places like Arkansas, where they offer a tax credit, are attractive. We could not have done the film we did with the talent that we had if we weren’t able to tap into something like the Arkansas tax credit. There’s just no way. It would’ve been a completely different model to how people got paid on the back end.

 

AY: For those who are not in the entertainment industry, it is hard to know exactly how much is being filmed here and how that compares year to year. What have you observed or heard from peers and colleagues?

 

Duncombe: I think Arkansas, as a state, does a fantastic job. I had a friend who was recently looking to do something in Arkansas, but the allocation of what the state had put aside for the tax credit had reached its limit — so, if anything, Arkansas has a nice problem to have in that you have more demand than you do have supply. You actually have more people wanting to film in Arkansas but, especially with independent films where they need that tax credit or that grant, if you have reached your allocation for the year, then even if Arkansas was their first choice, they had to look at alternative options.

 

Now, from a government perspective, I don’t know if they’d look at increasing that, if it makes sense to increase it and if the incentives are there to increase it, but there’s no question you have more demand than you have supply. That’s a lovely place to be.

 

AY: Let’s talk about your project, Killing Time.

 

Duncombe: Killing Time is a thriller. There is a bank robbery, and in that robbery, someone gets injured. They need to take shelter, and they take shelter with a husband and wife. As the story unravels, not everything is as it seems. You get these breadcrumbs, and just when it all kind of comes together, there’s a twist. I actually just saw the director’s cut, and I was so excited.

 

Some of the people in the movie are Freddie Prinze Jr., William Moseley, Sasha Pieterse and Shelley Hennig. Shelley Hennig has done a few movies in Arkansas, as has William Moseley, and they were very excited to come back.

 

It’s such a great cast; Freddie has this big ‘90s pool of people that love to see him because he doesn’t make a lot of movies. William was the lead in the Narnia movies and has a huge following, and he’s just a phenomenal actor. Sasha, who was in Pretty Little Liars, has almost 18 million followers on Instagram. That will really help us with a younger demographic. Shelley had just come off a movie that’s out with Mel Gibson and had just finished filming with Nicolas Cage.

 

 

AY: Where was Killing Time shot?

 

Duncombe: Mostly in and around Little Rock — stunning, stunning landscape. We wanted to use no stock footage. We wanted to use all footage from Arkansas. We had a couple of drones go over — I’m so sorry, I forget the name of the bridge, but we’re going from Little Rock, and we’re going over this bridge, and we have all these different angles, there’s one shot at sunset, and it’s so beautiful.

 

From the start, we decided this was about a sense of pride for what we did in Arkansas, and we wanted to make sure people knew what they’re seeing is from the state. We said there was no way we were going to cheat this city by putting stock footage in it from somewhere else. That’s offensive; that’s what you do when you have no other choice, but we had choices. We went in with our eyes wide open, wanting to make sure we were celebrating Arkansas as part of this film.

 

AY: Is there anything else you want the people of the state to know?

 

Duncombe: Well, you’re the first interview we’ve done. I have a very dear friend who’s the editor at Variety, and I said to him, “We want to continue to pay homage to the city and state that supported us and welcomed us in.” That’s when a mutual friend of mine and Heather [Baker] told me, ‘Oh my gosh, you’ve got to meet Heather.’ We met, and I told her we wanted to do something to say thank you to Arkansas because it has been such a positive experience for us. I know other people will read your article, and I want them to know that we had a great time. We thought it was fantastic.”

 

SEE THE FEATURE BELOW AND IN OUR OCTOBER 2026 ISSUE OF AY MAGAZINE